Exploring unequal class logics of mealtime food socialisation. An ethnography of family meals in France and Australia.

Regular family mealtimes are occasions to model food consumption and have been associated with health and well-being benefits for children. This study aimed to investigate children's mealtime food socialisation in socially diverse households. Nine families from France and five from Australia were recruited, ranging from lower middle-class to upper-class positions, with children mostly between the ages of five to eight. The data is composed of the observations of 47 mealtimes and semi-directive interviews with both parents. The results showed that food socialisation and parents' understanding of children's taste development were linked to the household's social class position as well as to the temporal, cognitive and emotional resources parents possessed at mealtimes, in a similar manner across France and Australia. The more capital and resources the parents had, the more they were able to perform an intensive food socialisation style, which led them to prepare balanced menus and get children to eat the food served. The less capital and resources the parents had, the more they engaged in a hands-off food socialisation style, leading them to serve more child-oriented and less diverse menus. Importantly, all parents strived to serve healthy food, but limited resources prevented some of them from doing so. These food socialisation styles were also connected to the development of different social skills in children: with the intensive model, children were closely managed by their parents at the table but also learnt negotiation skills, whereas with the hands-off style, children learnt to be quite autonomous in their eating. The findings presented here contribute to Hays' intensive mothering concept and to Lareau's class-based parenting models. They also challenge Bourdieu's differentiation between a taste of necessity and a taste of luxury.

What Is Commensality? A Critical Discussion of an Expanding Research Field.

Commensality (the act of eating together) is studied in a range of disciplines and often considered important for social communion, order, health and well-being, while simultaneously being understood as in decline (especially the family meal). However, such claims are also contested in various ways. In this paper, we discuss the expanding field of commensality research and critically reflect on the debates surrounding its social functions, including its role in public health. We illuminate the deep social and cultural significance of commensality, through time and space, and conclude that whether or not commensality is the preferred social form of eating for any given individual, it is difficult to escape its sociocultural desirability and idealization. As a cross-cultural phenomenon in both past, present, and future, we suggest that commensality deserves further research. This includes commensality as a research topic in itself and as an entry point to unveil different dimensions of social relations between people, as well as interactions between humans and material objects.

Beyond the Normative Family Meal Promotion: A Narrative Review of Qualitative Results about Ordinary Domestic Commensality.

There exists a normative representation of family meals in contemporary Western societies which is promoted as imperative through public health programs, larger discourses and by some studies in the nutritional and public health research fields. Family meals, also called domestic commensality, are represented as convivial events and are associated with positive health and wellbeing outcomes but there is minimal evidence to show they are beneficial for family members and it is not known which aspect of the family meal could be responsible for these alleged benefits. This normative family meal image is based on a representation of the family as a peaceful unit exempt from external constraints. This narrative literature review of qualitative studies of family meals seeks to put forward the underlying premises of this representation and compare it with reports about actual practices. The results emphasize that eating together is still practiced and remains valued by family members, which is in contrast to discourses lamenting the decline of the family meal. However, the valorisation and recurrence of family meals depends on class, gender and cultural positions. There is a gap between the norm of healthy or convivial and achievable family meals, which can reinforce the so-called "mental load" and "emotion work" of those in charge of feeding the family and heighten inequalities within the household. In fact, there are many challenges to family meals which originate from external constraints or are inherent aspects of family life. The results from this review suggest that we should focus on family meals by taking into account the food work surrounding it and focussing on the interactional aspects of family meals. Ethnographic methods allow the researcher to observe the diversities and complexities of commensality as well as family dynamics and, in doing so, could provide more realistic representations of eating within the family.

Prevalence and mechanisms of azole resistance in clinical isolates of Aspergillus section Fumigati species in a Canadian tertiary care centre, 2000 to 2013.

OBJECTIVES: Azole resistance among Aspergillus fumigatus isolates is a growing concern worldwide. Induction of mutations during azole therapy, environment-acquired mutations caused by azole fungicides and intrinsic resistance of cryptic Fumigati species all contribute to the burden of resistance. However, there is a lack of data in Canada on this emerging threat. METHODS: To gain insights into the magnitude and mechanisms of resistance, a 14 year collection of Aspergillus section Fumigati comprising 999 isolates from 807 patients at a Montreal hospital was screened for azole resistance, and resistance mechanisms were investigated with the combined use of genome sequencing, 3D modelling and phenotypic efflux pump assays. RESULTS: Overall azole resistance was low (4/807 patients; 0.5%). A single azole-resistant A. fumigatus sensu stricto strain, isolated from a patient with pulmonary aspergillosis, displayed efflux-pump-mediated resistance. Three patients were colonized or infected with azole-resistant cryptic Fumigati species (one Aspergillus thermomutatus, one Aspergillus lentulus and one Aspergillus turcosus). Evidence is presented that azole resistance is efflux-pump-mediated in the A. turcosus isolate, but not in the A. lentulus and A. thermomutatus isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Azole resistance is rare in our geographic area and currently driven by cryptic Fumigati species. Continued surveillance of emergence of resistance is warranted.

Draft Genome Sequence of Azole-Resistant Aspergillus thermomutatus (Neosartorya pseudofischeri) Strain HMR-AF-39, Isolated from a Human Nasal Septum Abscess Aspirate.

Here, we present the draft genome sequence of Aspergillus thermomutatus (formerly known as Neosartorya pseudofischeri; strain HMR-AF-39/LSPQ-01276), a cryptic species of Aspergillus section Fumigati. This species is intrinsically resistant to antifungal azoles and is recognized as an agent of invasive aspergillosis among immunocompromised hosts.

Draft Genome Sequences of Azole-Resistant and Azole-Susceptible Aspergillus turcosus Clinical Isolates Recovered from Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Samples.

We present the draft genome sequences of two clinical strains of Aspergillus turcosus, one azole-susceptible (strain HMR-AF-23/LSPQ-01275) and the other azole-resistant (strain HMR-AF-1038/LSPQ-01280), isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of two adult patients. These two strains are the first reported clinical isolates of A. turcosus.